Template-Type: ReDIF-Paper 1.0
Author-Name: Magda Fontana
Author-X-Name-First: Magda
Author-X-Name-Last: Fontana
Author-Email: magda.fontana@unito.it
Author-Workplace-Name: Despina Big Data Lab, and Dept. of Economics and Statistics, University of Turin
Author-Name: Martina Iori
Author-X-Name-First: Martina
Author-X-Name-Last: Iori
Author-Email: martina.iori@unito.it
Author-Workplace-Name: Dept. of Economics and Statistics, University of Turin
Author-Name: Fabio Montobbio
Author-X-Name-First: Fabio
Author-X-Name-Last: Montobbio
Author-Email: fabio.montobbio@unicatt.it
Author-Workplace-Name: DISCE, Università Cattolica - BRICK, Collegio Carlo Alberto, Turin - ICRIOS, Bocconi University, Milan
Author-Name: Roberta Sinatra
Author-X-Name-First: Roberta
Author-X-Name-Last: Sinatra
Author-Email: sinatrar@ceu.edu
Author-Workplace-Name: Dept. of Network & Data Science, and Dept. of Mathematics, Central European University, Budapest, Hungary - Center for Complex Network Research, Northeastern University, Boston, USA - Complexity Science Hub, Vienna, Austria
Title: A bridge over troubled water: Interdisciplinarity, Novelty, and Impact
Abstract: This paper analyses the relationship between novelty, interdisciplinarity and impact of scientific research. We discuss the limitations of the established indicators of novelty and interdisciplinarity (Variety, Disparity and Balance) and how they overlap. We correct the biases with normalized indicators that exploit a Configuration Null Model and we propose a protocol to verify the reliability of the indicators and standardize the measurement. The proposed methodology and new indicators are illustrated exploiting 231450 articles in Physics, their references and citations, from 8 Journals of the American Physical Society (APS) from 1985 to 2015. We show that Novelty à la Uzzi et al. (2013) is highly correlated with Disparity and Novelty à la Wang et al. (2017) is deeply affected by the properties of the articles’ citation network. We show the importance of taking into account the specific definition of the knowledge space and considering separately the different dimensions of interdisciplinarity. Using the new unbiased indicators we show that Variety has a positive effect on the articles’ Impact while Disparity and Balance have a negative effect. Previous results tend to underestimate the negative Impact of Disparity and overestimate the positive effects of Novelty.
Length: 50
Creation-Date: 2018-09
File-URL: http://dipartimenti.unicatt.it/politica-economica-DIPE0002.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
File-Function: First version, 2018
Number: dipe0002
Classification-JEL: I23, O31, O33, O38
Keywords: measurement of interdisciplinarity, detection of novelty, impact, normalization of measures, Physics
Handle: RePEc:ctc:serie5:dipe0002